Black Friday deal guarantee falls through in Florida

The Associated Press

Published 10:17 am, Friday, November 29, 2013

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Best Buy bargain hunters swarm manager Ramon Estevez, right, as he hands out scarves and hats that will identify those eligible for specially priced door-buster sale items late in the evening on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013, in Dunwoody, Ga. Instead of waiting for Black Friday, which is typically the year's biggest shopping day, more than a dozen major retailers opened on Thanksgiving this year. (AP Photo/David Tulis) less

Best Buy bargain hunters swarm manager Ramon Estevez, right, as he hands out scarves and hats that will identify those eligible for specially priced door-buster sale items late in the evening on Thanksgiving ... more

Photo: AP

Black Friday deal guarantee falls through in Florida

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The holiday shopping season kicked off much earlier this year, as several retailers opened their stores on Thanksgiving Day. The sales continued through Friday. Things were mostly calm, though customers complained about getting promised vouchers for TVs at a Wal-Mart in Florida.

The day after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday, is typically the biggest shopping day of the year. For a decade, it had been considered the official start of the holiday buying season. But in the past few years, retailers have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving night. They’ve also pushed up discounting that used to be reserved for Black Friday into early November, which has led retail experts to question whether the Thanksgiving openings will steal some of Black Friday’s thunder.

The holiday openings came despite threatened protests from workers’ rights groups, which are opposed to employees working on the holiday instead of spending the day with family.

Overall, the National Retail Federation expects retail sales to be up 4 percent to $602 billion during the last two months of the year. That’s higher than last year’s 3.5 percent growth, but below the 6 percent pace seen before the recession.

Analysts expect sales to be generated at the expense of profits, as retailers will likely have to do more discounting to get people into stores.

Here’s how the start of the holiday shopping season is playing out. All times are EST, unless otherwise specified.

Crowds waiting for vouchers for a deal on televisions walked away empty-handed after an in-stock guarantee fell through at a Wal-Mart store near Tampa, Fla.

Wal-Mart had promised that shoppers can get a voucher to buy the product later if a store is sold out, as long as the shopper is inside the store within one hour of a doorbuster sales event. At the store in Lutz, Fla., that meant either a television or a voucher for anyone in line before 7 p.m. Thursday.

Customers told Bay News 9 that by 7:15 p.m., they were told that all the televisions — and vouchers — were gone.

Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies, who were already working at the store, were asked for assistance. The crowd didn’t get unruly, but customers told the television station they were upset.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Danit Marquardt said the company is looking into the situation.

“It is always our goal to take care of our customers — especially on an important shopping day like Black Friday.”

The atmosphere was calm at the stores Judy Phillips and Bonnie Dow had hit Friday morning. Their annual Black Friday trek began Thanksgiving night at a mall in Wilton, a town north of Albany, N.Y. They eventually made it to Target in nearby Clifton Park.

“No one’s been fistfighting with anybody,” Dow said.

Phillips said they got “great deals” on such items as blankets, sheets and comforters, but her efforts to buy the popular Furby toy had come up empty.

“They’re all sold out,” she said.

— Chris Carola, Associated Press, Clifton Park, N.Y.

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— Friday, 8:15 a.m.: Two trips shopping for Chicago woman

Dana and Estevan Branscum of Chicago were stopping by a Target in the Chicago suburb of Niles to look for “little things” like movies.

“I never shop for big ticket items on Black Friday because I know I won’t get them,” said Dana Branscum, a 27-year-old grocery store manager.

The Friday morning visit was her second time at the store in less than 10 hours.

She and her mom headed out Thursday evening to do a full circuit of shopping: Kohl’s, Target, J.C. Penney and Michael’s craft store. She said it was much busier Thursday night than on Friday morning, but it also seemed more civilized than usual.

“I’ve been doing Black Friday for a couple years. It seemed very organized,” she said. There even were still a few televisions left at Target when she and her mom arrived around 8:30 p.m. CST, a half-hour after the store opened. At that time, the lines for the checkout stretched about 20 feet into the nearby health and beauty department, she said.

Friday morning was considerably quieter, with no lines at the checkout and plenty of parking spots right out front at about around 6 a.m. CST.

“Everybody is sleeping now I think,” said Estevan Branscum, a 24-year-old executive chef.

The Branscums plan to spend $800 to $1,000 this holiday season. They say if they had kids, they’d be spending much more.

Their big-ticket items this year — already purchased a week ago — were a TV for Estevan and a Coach purse for Dana.

They also stopped by Home Depot to buy a new Christmas tree.

— Sara Burnett, Associated Press, Niles, Ill.

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— Friday, 7:45 a.m.: How to make sure you’re getting the best deals? AP’s Joseph Pisani writes about five shopping apps to bring with you.

Many retailers, for instance, will match deals you find elsewhere. These apps can help you find better prices to show the cashier. Some let you search for coupons, while others tell you whether you’re better off buying online instead. And one keeps track of all those promotional fliers that do little good if you forget them at home.

Unfortunately, If you prefer to shop at mom and pop stores, you won’t find any deals here. But if you don’t mind big retailers, these apps offer a hefty selection of deals from them. These are all free, easy to use and beautifully designed:

— RetailMeNot (available for Android, iPhone): This app lets you search for coupons from your favorite stores, so you can instantly save 10 percent, 20 percent or even more on a single item or your entire shopping cart. You can scroll through the list of hot deals on the home page or search for a specific store.

— Amazon and RedLaser (available for Android, iPhone, Windows): These two apps let you check prices online, for those retailers that will match cheaper prices you find in hopes you’ll buy on the spot.

— Cartwheel by Target (available for Android, iPhone): Target’s app has coupons for everything from electronics to toys to cereal. Once you find a coupon you want to use, you tap the add button. Then present the cashier with a single barcode that has collected all the coupons you selected.

— Flipp (available for iPhone): This app helps you find and track newspaper circulars. You can leave the paper behind, as Flipp has digital versions with the coupons in them.

Curtis Akins, 51, drove about three hours from Tifton, Ga., to watch the annual Macy’s tree-lighting ceremony at Lenox Square mall in Atlanta on Thanksgiving. The store opened for shoppers at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and the rest of the mall opened at midnight.

By 5 a.m. Friday, he was sitting on a bench — looking slightly exhausted — inside another mall as his wife shopped for deals. The North Point Mall in Atlanta’s northern suburbs had the feel of an airport terminal in the pre-dawn hours, with some store gates open, others closed and many shoppers slowly shuffling along, bleary-eyed.

Akins said he wasn’t keen on Black Friday starting earlier and earlier.

“I think it’s going to end because it’s taking away from the traditional Thanksgiving,” he said.

The retailer opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, an hour earlier than a year ago. At Target.com, where nearly all the deals were available on Thanksgiving, traffic and sales were among the highest the Minneapolis-based retailer has seen in a single day.

In the early morning hours after the deals first became available, Target says its website saw two times more orders compared with a year ago at that time.

Hot items include Apple Inc.’s iPad Air, several large-screen TVs and Nintendo’s 3DS XL, which all sold out by mid-morning Thursday. In stores, crowds began gathering hours before the 8 p.m. opening. Target said that lines stretched several blocks.

Target said the stores’ electronics and toys sections were popular destinations. In many locations, the Element 52-inch TV sold out in minutes.

“We like to shop this time of night. We get in and out. We’re having a ball,” said Rosanne Scrom as she left the Target store in Clifton Park, N.Y., at 5 a.m. with her sister and their daughters. It was about 20 degrees then.

Scrom said they spent about 20 minutes in the store buying “whatever we see on sale that people will like.”

“We’re spending more this year,” said her daughter, Tiffani, 21.

“We’re getting more bargains,” her mother added.

The store wasn’t jammed, and the Scroms said they had more time to mull purchases and not worry about people snatching items from their carts, something that has happened to Rosanne Scrom “lots of times” during previous Black Friday shopping excursions.

— Chris Carola, Associated Press, Clifton Park, N.Y.

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— Friday, 6:50 a.m.: Two hurt as police respond to shoplifting call

Authorities say a police officer answering a call of alleged shoplifting at a Chicago area department store shot the driver of a car that was dragging a fellow officer.

The wounded driver of the car and the dragged officer were both taken for hospital treatment of non-life-threatening shoulder injuries, police say. Three people were arrested.

Mark Turvey, police chief in Romeoville, Ill., said police got a call shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday of two people allegedly shoplifting clothes from a Kohl’s store in the southwest Chicago suburb.

“As officers approached the front door, one of the two subjects ran out the door into the parking lot” and the officer chased him to a waiting car, Turvey said.

“The officer was struggling with the subject as he got into the car and then the car started to move as the officer was partially inside the car. The officer was dragged quite some distance. He couldn’t get out,” Turvey said.

The police chief said a backup officer fired two or three shots toward the driver when he refused orders to stop, striking him once in the shoulder.

There were no reports of any injuries to shoppers hunting for deals ahead of Black Friday.

A store manager contacted early Friday said he had no further information and referred The Associated Press to a corporate spokeswoman, who didn’t immediately return a message Friday.

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—Friday, 6:30 a.m.: Tech gadgets among best-sellers at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that best sellers for its Thanksgiving sale included big-screen TVs, Apple’s iPad Minis, laptops, Microsoft’s Xbox One, Sony’s PlayStation 4 and the game “Call of Duty: Ghosts.”

The world’s largest retailer said that customers also bought 2.8 million towels, 300,000 bicycles and 1.9 million dolls.

Wal-Mart started its deals at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, two hours earlier than last year. The retailer said 1 million customers took advantage of its one-hour guarantee program, which allows shoppers who are inside a Wal-Mart store within one hour of a doorbuster sales event to buy that product and either take it home that day or by Christmas. That program started a year ago with three items and was expanded to 21 this year.

For the first time this year, customers were offered wristbands for popular products, allowing them to shop while they waited for deals.

Amazon has managed to attract customers from big store chains such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy with low prices and convenient shipping. Now, stores are fighting to get customers back.

Stores are doing such things as matching the lower prices on Amazon and offering the same discounts in stores as on their websites. For its part, Amazon.com Inc. is giving customers the option to pick up items at physical locations and adding Sunday delivery.

There’s a lot at stake for both sides. Amazon has built a following, but wants to grow its business around the world. Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar retailers struggle to keep shoppers from using their stores as showrooms to test out and try on items before buying them for less on Amazon.

The holiday season ups the ante. Both online and brick-and-mortar retailers can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue in November and December. And this year, they’re competing for the growing number of shoppers who are as comfortable buying online as in stores.

— Thursday, 11 p.m.: J. C. Penney’s store in Manhattan was busy with bargain shoppers buying discounted sweaters, bed sheets and luggage, but the store was not packed. Among the doorbuster deals were 50 percent off on all fashion silver jewelry. The struggling department needs a solid holiday shopping season to help recover from a botched up transformation plan.

The company has brought back sales events and basic merchandise like khakis in forgiving fits. To kick off the holiday shopping season, Penney opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. That was much earlier than the 6 a.m. opening on Black Friday a year ago.

Tamara Robinson, 37, from Brooklyn, said she has been buying more at Penney in the last few months. Robinson was throwing bed sheets and comforters into her cart at Penney and planned to spend about $200 at the department store on Thursday. She then planned to go to Macy’s and Best Buy.

“I am going to shop all night,” she said.

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— Thursday, 8 p.m.: Crowds of cheering shoppers pushed through the doors at the flagship Macy’s Herald Square in New York City when it opened.

About 15,000 shoppers were at Macy’s right before the doors opened, estimated Terry Lundgren, CEO, president and chairman of the department store chain. Last year, the store had 11,000 people right before the midnight opening.

Lundgren, who was at the entrance, told The Associated Press that the retailer knew it had to open when it found out other competitors were planning to open on Thanksgiving night. He also said it received positive feedback from its employees. “We’re a competitive group,” he said. “It’s very clear they (the shoppers) want to be here at 8 p.m.”

The store was featuring 375 doorbusters, up from last year’s 200. Some of the deals included $79.99 jackets originally priced from $195 to $250, and cashmere sweaters for $39, marked down from 129.

Shelby Wheatley, 17, was with her mother, her mother’s friend and her best friend, who all traveled from Orlando, Fla. Wheatley was looking for a prom dress and wanted to buy it in New York.

“I did Black Friday — but never Thursday — and never in New York,” she said.

As for Thanksgiving, the group celebrated early with family last week.

“We just had dinner at TJI Fridays,” she added.

— Anne D’Innocenzio, Retail Writer, New York

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—Thursday, just before 8 p.m.: At Macy’s in the Manhattan borough of New York City, bargain shoppers were grabbing discounted coats, perfume and handbags. It was mayhem in the shoe department with shoppers pushing and shoving each other to grab boxes of cold weather boots, discounted by 50 percent, that were stacked high on tables. One item catching people’s attention: Bearpaw boots that resembled Uggs. They were priced at $34.

“This is my first Black Friday, and I don’t particularly like it,” said Tammy Oliver, 45, who had a box of Bearpaw boots under her arm, a gift for herself. “But I did get some good deals.”

Denise Anderson, 49, along with her husband and 16-year-old daughter, were visiting Manhattan from Fayetteville, Ark. They arrived in Manhattan on Saturday and had spent $3,000 to $4,000 on themselves. She has done Black Friday shopping back at home but wanted to do it in New York.

“We’re people watching,” she said. “We wanted to see the craziness.”

— Anne D’Innocenzio, Retail Writer, New York

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— Thursday, 6 p.m.: An hour after its 6 p.m. opening, Best Buy at Union Square in New York City was bustling, with big TVs, Kindle e-book readers and laptops being popular purchases. Buying a TV on sale seemed to be most people’s priority.

“My friend is chewing me out right now for not being there,” said Rodney Bernard, 39, a writer in the Bronx. Instead of being at his friend’s Thanksgiving celebration, he was at Best Buy. “But I really needed a TV.”

He saw a deal in the paper for an Insignia 39-inch TV for $169, but ended up buying a more expensive 40-inch Samsung TV after a store salesman said he could get $20 off if he applied for a Best Buy credit card. He got the TV for $399 and it was originally $700 or $800.

Meanwhile, his friend doesn’t approve of shopping on Thanksgiving. “He’s upset with myself right now. He feels offended and is like don’t even come by.”

Bernard agrees but thinks it’s OK to shop if you really need something.

Fortunately he says, his parents and immediate family are celebrating Thanksgiving on the 30th because several people had to work today.

“It’s not like I lost something, I’ll be celebrating.”

— Mae Anderson, Retail Writer, New York

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—Thursday, 5:41 p.m.: A Kmart store in the Manhattan borough of New York City was packed with people shopping for clothing and holiday decor items. The discounter, whose parent is Sears Holdings Corp., opened at 6 a.m. and planned to stay open for 41 hours straight. Clothing was marked down from 30 percent to 50 percent.

Adriana Tavaraz, 51, from the Bronx, who had just finished work at a travel agency at around 4 p.m., spent $105 on ornaments, Santa hats and other holiday decor for herself and her family at Kmart. She saved about 50 percent. But Tavarez said her holiday budget was tight because she was grappling with higher costs like food and monthly rent, which rose $100 to $1,700 this year.

“I struggle a lot,” said Tavaraz, who started saving for holiday presents in June and planned to spend a total of $200 for holiday presents. “Nowadays, you have to think about what you spend. You have to think about tomorrow.”

As for celebrating Thanksgiving, she planned to have her family over for dinner at 8 p.m.

“Everything is ready,” she said.

—Anne D’Innocenzio, Retail Writer, New York

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— Thursday, 4:30 p.m.: At Best Buy in New York City, 70 people are in line before the 6 p.m. opening. A popular deal was the Microsoft Windows Surface tablet on sale at $199 from $350.

Jamal Afridi, 35, a truck driver from Utah but living temporarily in New York, was in line to buy a 39-inch TV for $160 from $299. He tried to buy it online but it was sold out.

“I checked over the last two days, I wouldn’t have come out otherwise,” he said. He was also interested in the Surface tablet deal, though. “This was the best deal if the year,” he said.

He doesn’t mind earlier hours on Thanksgiving. “I don’t have to get up early in the morning,” he said. “Who cares it’s just another day, I’ll eat later.”

— Mae Anderson, Retail Writer, New York

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— Thursday afternoon: Pizza Hut has offered to rehire the manager of a northern Indiana restaurant who was fired over his refusal to open up on Thanksgiving Day.

Tony Rohr said he has worked at the Elkhart restaurant since starting as a cook more than 10 years but was told to write a letter of resignation after his refusal. He said he declined in a meeting with his boss and instead wrote a letter explaining that he believed the company should care more about its employees.

“I said, ‘Why can’t we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees and they can have the day off?”’ Rohr told WSBT-TV (http://bit.ly/1bZovDT ) of South Bend, Ind.

Rohr said he was thinking about the other workers at the restaurant.

“Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days that they’re closed in the whole year, and they’re the only two days that those people are guaranteed to have off and spend it with their families,” he said.

Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut issued a statement Wednesday saying it respects an employee’s right to not work on the holiday and that the store owner has agreed to reinstate Rohr.